Edwin t



E. T. GREENPIELD.

Meohanism'for Laying Telegraph Wires. No. 239,766.

P'a-tente'd Apr'il 5,188t.

Saul (l W a 3 "UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN T. GREENFIELD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOTHEHOLMES BURGLAR ALARM TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

MEOHAN|SM FOR LAYING TELEGRAPH-WIRES.'

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 239,766, dated April 5,1881.

7 Application filed January 8, 1880.

To all-whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN T. GREENFIELD, of the city of Brooklyn,in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in LayingTelegraphic Wires, of which the following is aspecification.

In laying and repairing telegraphic lines it is often necessary to passthe wires over build ings intervening between the posts ,to which theyare to be secured, and this has generally been done by drawing the wiresover the buildings by men stationed thereon. In practice this plan hasbeen found to be attended, not only with great trouble and delay ingaining access to the top of buildings, but oftentimes, especially incities, admittance for this purpose has been denied.

It is the object of this invention to provide means of conveying suchwires from post to post without interfering .with the premises overwhich they pass; and it consists in the method hereinafter described oflaying or stringing telegraphic or similar wires, and alsoin theconstruction of the carrier used for this purpose, as hereinafterdescribed and claimed. A carrier adapted for thispurpose is hereinafterdescribed, and is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a side elevation of such carrier with its front plate removed, andFig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.

The main parts of this carrier are a grooved wheel, a friction-roller,and a coiled spring arranged and' operating to hold the carrier upon thewire and to drive it along its length.

The grooved wheel (represented in the drawings by A) is secured to itsshaft a, which is journaled in an auxiliary frame, B, which is firmlysecured to the main frame 0.

D is a friction-roller located beneath the grooved wheel A, and havingits shaft b journaled in enlargements c c on the free ends of cured to across-bar of the case 0, while the other end is attached to the shaft f,around which the spring is coiled, and it is tightened or wound up byturning thisshaft.

F is a main wheel loose on theshaftf, which is journaled in the walls ofthe frame or case B, and has its winding-stem c projectingthrough thewall of the case G. Contiguous to the wheel F, and fast to theshaft f,is a ratchetwheel, 1", whose pawl 19 is attached to the wheel F and isgoverned by a spring, 8. This ratchet and pawl operate to hold the slackof the spring D as it is taken up in winding, and also compels the wheelF to turn backward upon the shaftf when it revolves in that direction.

The wheel F is provided with spur-teeth upon its periphery, which meshwith a the shaft a.

H and I are additional spunwheelsmeshing with the pinions h and t,which, by lengthening the train, serve to regulate the speed of thewheel A. They may be omitted and any other usual device for regulatingor controlling the speed of the Wheel A be substituted.

J is a pawl, which acts upon the pinion tas a ratchet, in the usual way.To this pawl is attached a crank, k, by which the pawl is engaged anddisengaged from the pinion.

m m, &c., are cross-bars connecting and holding together the sides ofthe frame 0, and n n, &o., are barsof the frame B, for the same purpose.I

O is an opening in one side of the case or frame 0, contiguous to thegrooved wheel A and the roller D, which permits the carrier to beproperly engaged with a suspended wire or other line fastened at bothends.

W is a weight suspended to the lower part of the frame (3, tocounterbalance the weight of the carrierabove the wire on which thecarrier is supported, and w is the wire.

Instead of using a weight,W, to maintain the carrier in an uprightposition whilein motion, the driving mechanism-that is, the devicessecured in the frame B-may be adjusted in the lower part of the frame 0,by which means the carrier is made self-supporting, and thecountor-weight Wmay be dispensed with.

When one or more wires are stretched between two points as twotelegraph-poles, and

it is desired to lay or string other wires along the same course overany intermediate object, as a building, without the trouble and delay ofsending a man to the top of such building to draw the wires across, thiscan be done by the pawl 19 and ratchet r, and the wheel F beingprevented from turning in a forward direction by the pawl J and ratchet73. Seat the carrier by passing it laterally over the wire, the wireentering through the opening in the frame or case, and bring the wirebetween the faces of the roller D and the wheel A, when the roller willpass and hold it firmly in the groove oft-he wheel. Disengage the pawl Jfrom its ratchet, and the entire train is free to respond to the actionof the spring E upon the shaftf, by which this shaft and its connectedparts (the w heel F, its pinion Gr, and the wheel A, &c.) are caused torevolve. The revolution of the wheel A, while held in close frictionalcontact with the wire, causes the carrier to travel along the wire at aspeed and to a distance limited only by the relation of the drivingdevices to each other, and by the strength and elasticity of themainspring. By attaching one end of the wire to be laid to the carrierit can be conyeyed to the desired point, or, in case the wire is tooheavy to be transported by the driving-power of the carrier, byattaching one end of alight cord to the carrier it can be easilyconveyed to the desired point, and by its use either the wire or asecond cord 0t increased strength can be drawn over.

It is observed that the inclination of telegraphic wires is often asmuch as fifteen or twenty degrees, and that it. is advantageous to havea carrier so constructed as to travel up such incline. The presentconstruction is capable of accomplishing this, and by increasing thestrength and elasticity of the mainspring and the frictional contact ofthe wheel A upon the wire am uch steeper grade can be traversed.

It is not designed to limit the driving-power to the use of a coiledspring like that shown and described, nor, in fact, to any spring, aspower generated by other means-.0. g., a toy engine-could easily beapplied to drive the grooved wheel, although it is considered that acoiled spring like that shown in the drawings will furnish the cheapestpower for this purpose, and will in most cases be sufficient toaccomplish the desired result.

What is claimed as new is 1. The hereinbefore-described method oflayingor stringing telegraphic or similar wires, which consists in carryingthe end of the wire from one point of attachment to another by means ofa carrier moving automatically along another wire, which follows thegeneral direction between such points, substantially as set forth.

2. In a carrier constructed to move along a wire, a grooved wheel, incombination with a friction-roller and driving mechanism, substantiall yas and for the purpose described.

3. In a carrier constructed to move along a wire, a main or drivingspring, in combination with a grooved wheel and at'riction-roller,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

EDWIN '1. GREENFIELD.

Witnesses J AS. ToUMEY, H. F. NEWBURY.

